Confrontations
by Stella Stargaze
Summary: (One-shot) What happens when you came face to face with your past after five years away? A past of torture and sadness. A past that you can never really overcome. Tails will soon find out when he gets stranded in that very past. Westside Island.


**I randomly thought of this story and had to type it. I love brotherly stories between Sonic and Tails and stories that have to do with their pasts. Plus we never know what happens to those bullies from when Tails was a kid so that is a very good addition. I wrote this pretty quickly so if there are some mistakes or it seems rushed that's why. Also, as you will see I'm not the best at making insults for Tails so I'm planning on having a contest to see who can come up with the meanest nicknames for Tails.(I sound like such an awful person when I say it like that) I need them for my other Fanfic Ground x. If you win you will get an honorable mention at the end of the story and a cookie.**

**One last thing. Some elements from this story may or may not result in another story later on. *Wink wink* ;)**

The ocean was bright blue, glinting in the morning sun. The weather was perfect, not a cloud in the sky, only a slight breeze blowing across the surface.

Above it all was a yellow and blue plane. It had been flying for hours, circling, backtracking. A small beeping noise could be heard from the cockpit, steadily as if on beat.

It was a tracker. The pilot, a young orange fox, was looking for a certain gem that his tracker had said should be out here somewhere. Of course it had said that it was a few hundred miles away from here twenty minutes ago.

"Is this thing broken or something?" the fox thought aloud.

He started pushing sets of buttons on the device that only he understood what would do. A small chart graph came up on the screen.

"Hmmm… This shows that everything is functioning just fine," he sighed, "Guess I'll have to look at it when I get home."

He started to make a U-turn back in the direction of Mystic Ruins, when another beep added to the chorus of the tracker. This one was much louder and faster, trying to get his attention.

A small light flashed at him, indicating a major problem, "Of course it's _that _one that works," then smoke started pouring out of the plane's engine, "Okay. That's bad. I need a place to land. _Now."_

A small dot could be seen in the distance, indicating an island. The pilot managed to steady his plane and aimed it toward it.

There was a long stretch of beach that looked completely clear. Perfect for landing, "Steady, Tails. Keep it steady."

The landing was bumpy and he had trouble keeping it from swerving into the water. But he did manage to land it safely.

Tails hopped out of his seat and flew up to the smoking area to view the damage, he sighed, "Looks like I'm going to have to replace some major parts here." He looked around at his surroundings, or at least what he could see through the smoke, "Hope there's somewhere I can get parts."

He hovered back down to the ground and, seeing no other alternative, started in the direction of a thick forest. Although something seemed really familiar about that place.

He stopped. "No." he frantically looked around his environment again, "There's no way."

Unfortunately there was. This was Westside Island, his old home. The place he had been bullied and abandoned to fend for himself.

He peeked into the thick forest, keeping an eye out for unfriendly faces. 'Who am I kidding? All the faces here are unfriendly.' He reminded himself.

He took a deep breath and dived in, prepared for the worst. And he was going to get it too.

The first fifteen minutes went by without any unhappy reunions, but Tails didn't relax. He had learned to always keep your guard up when you were in any dangerous situation from Sonic. Boy, did he wish his big brother was there to back him up.

It had been years since he had been back here. But it's not like anyone would have forgotten him or couldn't recognize him. He was a two-tailed fox for crying out loud!

"Hey! Who's that?"

Looks like his luck just ran out.

"Hey, is that the freak?"

He turned to face the voices. Sure enough coming out of the foliage was a brown monkey in orange boots, a large black bear, and a gray wolf with a purple bandanna around his neck. He couldn't remember their names. He hadn't been here since he was three. He was eight now.

"Look who it is. Its captain mutant," the wolf sneered at him.

Tails flinched at the name, but did manage to retort, "Five years and you couldn't come up with anything better?"

They looked surprised but recovered quickly, "So where have you been all this time? You find some other cave to squat in?"

Tails turned and started walking toward what he thought was the way to the town, "You could say that I guess."

The group of bullies stood in place for a moment, not expecting him to move, but started to follow not thirty seconds later. The bear was closest to him, "Why don't you tell us all about it."

"No thanks. I'm just heading into town to grab some stuff then I'll be on my way." He continued walking.

"Why don't you stick around and have some fun?"

He sensed it coming. He ducked right in time for a fist to go hurtling over his head. The bear, who had thrown the punch, became off-balanced and Tails took advantage by kicking his feet from under him. As the giant fell he jumped out of the way of another attack. This one performed by the monkey. Tails smoothly dodged all of the attacks from him without any trouble. Then, when they all came out of their shock and started advancing at once,he started spinning his namesakes and flew out of reach with a smirk on his face.

He looked down at the three to see a mixed expression of anger and shock painted on their faces. 'Oh yeah,' he thought, 'I never flew around them.'

He flew right above the tapestry of leaves to see around the entire island. He saw the small village not too far from where he had been when he was ambushed. 'Here we go again," he thought as he soared toward the settlement.

The fox landed a few miles away from the entrance so he didn't attract as much attention. As much. He still attracted plenty of attention. He heard snatches of conversations every couple of minutes. "Two tails?" "Isn't that that kid that was always in the forest?" "I haven't seen him in years." "Miles Prower?"

He sighed and quickly found the parts shop. He just wanted to end this nightmare.

The small ding of the bell above the door signified his arrival. He remembered that the shop owner was one of the nicest (and probably the only) people to him. That was part of the reason he loved repairing and building stuff. He was always over here after he had beaten up and he had watched him repairing all the junk people had given him. He remembered the guy's name was Caden.

The place was just how he remembered it, old and rustic with high shelves (that didn't really seem that high anymore) with all sorts of tools and parts. Behind the counter was were small gadgets piled up that Caden had been fixing up and the man himself in the middle of it all.

He was a tall golden cat in bright blue overalls with a green undershirt. The sleeves had been rolled up to his elbows. He had oil all over his arms and hands and seemed to be tinkering with some silver ball with multiple panels taken out and wires hanging out in different spaces. 'Is that how I look when I'm working?'

"Hi. Welcome to my workshop. Feel free to roam around the shop," he didn't even look up.

"I see you still focus on your work more than your customers Caden."

The cat shot his head up, "Miles?"

Said fox rubbed the back of his head nervously, "Hi Caden."

The mechanic practically jumped over the counter to get to the young fox. "I can't believe it! I haven't seen you in years! Are you okay?"

Tails laughed, "I'm fine Caden. And you can call me Tails now."

"Tails?" the fox nodded, "Tails it is then." The young fox beamed up at him, his only friend on Westside. "Now where have you been? Have you still been fending for yourself? Did those bullies do something to you?"

Tails shook his head quickly, "No. Actually…"

"Someone adopted you?!"

Tails smiled up at the cat, "Yeah."

Caden put a hand on his shoulder, "Your new parents better be nicer to you than those boys out there," Tails opened his mouth to respond but was interrupted by Caden, "So what brings you to my little corner of the world?"

"Well. I need some parts for a bi-plane engine."

"A bi-plane?" the fox nodded, "Well, what exactly do you need?"

Tails recited the list of parts and tools that he would need in order to get the tornado off the ground. When everything was gathered he took out the money to pay for it, but Caden denied, "Keep the money. A gift, from one friend to another."

The kit smiled and looked down and the parts then his money. He put the money on the counter and picked up his items, "From one friend to another." Then he left, leaving an astonished cat in his wake.

More whispers went through the crowds of people as he walked by, "What's all that stuff he has?" "Did he steal that?" "Why would it be in a shopping bag if he stole it?" He ignored them all. All he needed focus on was getting to the Tornado without any trouble. 'Because _that's_going to happen,' he ruefully thought.

"Yo! Freak!"

"Oh boy," he said out loud, "Would you guys leave me alone already?"

The monkey ran ahead of him to block his path, "Not a chance freak. And don't even think about using those tails of yours. We brought a bb gun with us this time."

Tails looked back to see that the wolf had a small gun in his hands. Loaded and ready to fire. He rolled his eyes at them, "A bb gun. I'm so scared," he let the sarcasm drip off his voice heavily.

This just annoyed the three. The wolf, trying to show dominance, shot at the fox's feet. He didn't even flinch. This made him even madder, "Since when have you been so though?" he yelled, "You're just some eight year old freak! It's not like you can do anything special! No one in their right mind would be friends with some low life mutant that spends his time in a forest messing with junk like that!" he knocked the bag out of Tails's hands, spilling all the contents. This made Tails angry himself and stepped up to face the bully, again raising the wolf's anger meter, "Your nothing but a freak. No one would ever want to be your friend. No one will ever even be nice to you. You don't deserve it."

"I don't know. I think plenty of people would like him."

They all whipped around to see the new comer. Tails's eyes grew to the size of sausers. He was a blue hedgehog with red and white shoes and green, emerald eyes. And he looked pretty pissed.

The bully pushed past the fox to get a better look at the hedgehog. "What?"

Tails ran past the three and came up to him, "Sonic! How did you find me here?"

Said hedgehog smiled down at the fox, "Looked at that tracker thing you put on your chaos detector. Although it did take every one of our friends to figure out how to work it."

Tails laughed, "It's not that hard to work!"

The hedgehog laughed with him, "Yeah, for you maybe. For us it took half an hour just to turn it on."

"Hey!"

The loud yell interrupted the two. The bear had come up beside his friend and looked just as mad as him too, he looked at Tails with hatred filling his eyes, "You know this guy?"

Sonic answered for him, "Yeah, he's my little brother."

The three stood in shocked silence. That was the last thing they expected to hear. Tails just looked at them with a smirk plastered onto his face.

Monkey boy was the first to recover, "You're kidding right?" he stared daggers at Tails, "A freak like him?"

Tails crossed him arms over his chest and stared back directly into his eyes. As did Sonic, "He's not a freak."

The wolf stepped up, "Because two tails is so normal."

"No," he hooked his arm around his little brother, "But it doesn't make him a freak."

"Then what does it make him?" the wolf spat back, "Special? That's just something people saw to make the freaks feel better."

"Done more than you have," Tails shot at him, "You've just been beating up on little kids to make yourself feel better. I actually have a life."

"What did you just say?" he was gritting his teeth.

"Get. A. life."

That crossed the line. He brought up his gun and aimed for the two brothers. But they weren't there anymore. "What the-?" His sentence was cut short by a swift kick to the head from above. He dropped the gun on the ground and when he looked up he saw Tails hovering above him, almost emotionless. He reach for the gun but as his hand came close it disappeared with a gust of wind. "Huh?" Behind him Sonic was tossing the gun up into the air and back to his hand again, looking bored.

"Why don't you just give up now and leave us alone?" Tails asked, still with no emotion on his face.

The wolf growled in response and was helped up by his friends, "You're still a freak."

"Better than a wimp who needs to beat on children to feel good about himself."

The three stalked away and Tails let out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding. In fact, he had been holding it since he landed on Westside Island.

Sonic walked up to him and put a hand on his shoulder, "You okay lil' bro?"

"I'm fine," he looked up at his big brother, "How did you know I would need your help?" he asked, "I'm miles away from home."

"Let's call it brotherly instinct and the fact you hadn't come back for hours," he smiled down at the young fox.

The fox gave a slight chuckle and looked down at the parts he had bought, "I'll bet they broke a good amount of this stuff."

Sonic bent down and picked up one of the metal thingies that only Tails probably knew what it was, "How bout we go buy you some more then. And maybe you can tell me what happened on the way."

He smiled and nodded, "Deal."

Sonic put his arm around his friend's neck as they started for the parts store. Tails explained the smoke coming from the engine and what he had figured out was wrong with it (Sonic couldn't understand most of the part). He told him about being ambushed and talking with Caden.

"I'm proud you stood up for yourself like that Tails." Sonic told him at the end of his story, "Couldn't have done better myself."

Tails beamed up at him, "Thanks Sonic. I do feel better now that you're here though." They came up to Caden's workshop, "Here it is."

"This guy was the only person who was ever nice to you?"

"Yep," he pushed open the door, "Come on."

The small bell went off again and Caden was still behind the counter with whatever device he had been working on. It looked more like a ball now. And he still didn't look up.

"Caden," the cat snapped his head up, again, "Sorry. Those three bullies came up and broke the parts. I'm going to need to get some more."

"It's not a problem Mi- Tails," then he noticed the blue hedgehog behind him, "Who's this?"

"My big brother, Sonic. The one who adopted me," he answered looking at the hedgehog.

The cat looked surprised at first but quickly recovered, "It's a pleasure to meet you Sonic," he put out his hand.

"Likewise," he took the hand and shook, "Thanks for being there for my lil' bro." When he pulled back his hand there was some oil left on it.

"No problem at all," he clapped his hands together, "Now why don't we get those parts for you."

They gathered all the necessary parts and (after a slight argument with Caden) paid for it all. After thanking him again and saying their goodbyes they left and headed back to the Tornado.

They didn't hear any whispering from the residents of Westside.

Tails had half disappeared in the plane's engine as he made his repairs. His twin tails waving in the air.

Sonic sat on the wings, watching him work, and handing him tools when he asked. They seemed to do this every time Tails was fixing up the plane.

Sonic smiled remembering when he had first known the fox. He had been pretty shy at first, but as time went on he started opening up to other people and turned into the person he is today.

Tails took his head out of the engine and slowly walked over to the side of the plane. This worried Sonic, "Tails?"

Suddenly the fox broke down into tears, falling to his knees. Sonic's brotherly instincts kicked in and he jumped down from his spot and ran to his side, hugging the weeping fox. Tails leaned into his brother's embrace, letting the tears roll off his face.

After a couple of minutes he started to calm down. The sobs turning into sniffs. "You okay buddy?" Sonic asked, still holding the fox.

Tails sniffed, "Yeah, I'm fine. It's just-"man does this feel embarrassing, "A lot of really bad memories started coming up. I guess I just couldn't take it."

"Well it's over now so you don't have to worry. I won't let anyone pick on you again," the hedgehog pulled his adopted brother closer to him, "Promise."

The fox rested his head on his big brother's shoulder, "Thank you."

They sat there for a few more moments. Everything was quiet around them. Even the birds had grown quiet. The sun had started to set when Sonic pulled himself off the ground and extended a hand for his brother, "Ready to go?"

"Yeah," and he took his hand and hopped into the plane, "Let's go home."


End file.
